Top 5 Must-Have Classic Rock DVDs

For those of us who spent our formative years listening to The Doors, watching them making the last album they recorded while Jim Morrison was alive is pretty compelling.

To refresh your memory (if needed) -- L.A. Woman was the band's sixth studio release, and was very bluesy, by Doors standards. The most recognizable tracks were "Riders on the Storm" and "Love Her Madly."

Like the remastered edition of the album that the film documents, this updated version of the behind-the-scenes documentary contains material that was not included in the original release. Both the remastered edition of the album and the HD remake of the film are in celebration of L.A. Woman's 40th anniversary (a few months late, considering the album was originally released in 1971.)

In addition to additional footage, there are new interviews with surviving band members (John Densmore, Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek,) Bruce Botnik (producer/engineer of both the original album and the remake) and The Doors' mananager, Bill Siddons.

Watch the trailer for Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman

Release date: January 24, 2012

Purchase DVD, Blu-ray

If you're thinking you just saw this on the Biography TV series, you're partially correct. The two-hour documentary was recently broadcast, but the DVD/Blu-ray release adds a considerable amount of performance, interview and archival footage not seen in the TV version.

Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't escape the fact that Queen is one of the most successful and influential classic rock bands. The documentary tells the band's story in two parts: their formative years (1970-80) and 1980-present. It is fast-paced (by typical documentary standards,) creatively produced and heavy on humor.

Watching Days of Our Lives you get a good sense of how important Freddie Mercury was to the band's sound and stage persona, and you can see why Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon made the decision not to replace him after he died. Although the band has performed with a variety of vocalists for varying periods of time since Mercury's death in 1991, they agreed that his influence -- his presence -- simply couldn't be replaced.

In addition to the documentary, the release includes a wealth of videos, interviews and archive snippets (some exclusive to the Blu-ray version.)

Watch the trailer for Days of Our Lives

Release date: January 31, 2012

Purchase DVD, Blu-ray

Compared to a Rolling Stones concert in the 21st century, this one was bare bones. It was all about the music, without the light shows, fireworks and complicated staging you see at a Stones concert today.

Of course, this was 1978, and the band was at what many of their fans contend was their creative peak. By the time they began their U.S. tour after the album's release, Some Girls was #1 on the U.S. charts. What this performance lacked in pyrotechnics and high tech wizardry, it more than made up for in energy and motion.

The concert was originally shot on 16 millimeter film (the same kind they used in those days to shoot news footage.) For the new version, the film was painstakingly restored, remixed and remastered, with latter day interviews of band members added.

Watch the trailer for Some Girls Live in Texas '78

Release date: November 11, 2011

Purchase DVD, Blu-ray

One of the better known passengers on one of the many planes that were grounded as they prepared to take off from New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001 was Paul McCartney. He could actually see the burning towers from his window seat at JFK.

A few weeks later, McCartney staged a 9/11 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden. Behind the scenes footage from that concert is part of this new documentary about Macca's 9/11 experience. The Love We Make originally aired on Showtime in September 2011.

There is also footage of McCartney walking the streets of New York City, chatting with passersby about the tragedy. Also included: backstage footage and onstage performances from the long list of participating artists including The Who's Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Elton John, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

The concert -- and this film documenting it -- pay tribute to the victims and survivors of 9/11, tastefully and touchingly. We see (and hear) vividly how the city pulled together in the weeks after the attacks. The use of black-and-white visuals was a good creative call. The end result is that we stay focused on the feelings, not the footage.

Watch the trailer for The Love We Make

Release date: December 6, 2011

Purchase DVD, Blu-ray

I regretted not having the opportunity to catch Deep Purple when they toured in 2011 with a full orchestra. But watching this performance almost made up for it. Not all classic rock bands are well suited to orchestral backing, but for Deep Purple it is an excellent fit, and they've taken full advantage of it many times in the past 40 years.

Hard as it may be to imagine if you haven't heard it, songs like "Highway Star," "Space Truckin'" and "Strange Kind of Woman" really shine with orchestral backing. This is not just strings and horns playing along. Individual instruments are incorporated in ways that actually create something entirely new.

The connection between Deep Purple and Montreux, Switzerland (site of the annual music festival where this performance was recorded) is an often recounted piece of classic rock history. DP were there in 1971, recording Machine Head, which would be released the next year. They were working in a studio located in a casino complex where Frank Zappa happened to be performing. One evening, an over-stimulated Zappa fan set off a flare which set the roof on fire which caused the building to burn to the ground.

From that sprung what would become a signature DP song, "Smoke on the Water." First the fire inspired Ritchie Blackmore's most famous opening guitar riff. Ian Gillan came up with the lyrics based on the casino fire. Roger Glover came up with the title, after several days of the band calling it "The Dang Dang Song" (you know, Blackmore's opening riff ... dang dang dang, dang dang duh dang ...) They made room for it on Machine Head and, quite unplanned, released what would become one of classic rock's classic songs.

Even without the backstory, Live at Montreux 2011 is one ass-kicking concert, well worth the price of admission by way of DVD or Blu-ray.

Purchase DVD, Blu-ray

Disclosure: Review copies were provided by the publicists. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.